Information concerning Poorhouses in Dundee.....

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 1:31 am

Hi all
Just found this page which may be of interest to anyone who had relatives in Dundee poorhouses:
http://www.fdca.org.uk/poor_index.htm

There is a database of names and there are some interesting links to articles such as Daily life in poorhouses and the Liff and Benvie poorhouse which gives an example menu for a week. Sobering.

Best wishes
Lesley

Malcolm · Post by **Malcolm** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 10:31 pm

That's interesting Lesley. Can you point me to the food menu please. I can't find it.
Thanks
MM

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 10:34 pm

Hi Malcolm
The à la carte is at:
http://www.fdca.org.uk/poorhouse/poorhouse2.htm

Best wishes
Lesley

Malcolm · Post by **Malcolm** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 10:57 pm

Mmmm. I could live on that food. I forgot to say that my parents are from Dundee. I thought you might like to know that.
Did they just have one meal a day. I would love to know what people ate for breakfast. Would you be my social history researcher. .....Please
MM

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 11:30 pm

Hi Malcolm
I did wonder when I looked at the menu if that was het for the day, but it does say "dinner" so I suppose that might be taken to mean there were other meals. I suspect porridge, probably very thin and watery might have featured somewhere during the day. Is breakfast a modern phenonomen though? I read a very interesting book many years ago by a guy called Arnold Palmer called "Moveable Feasts" ( http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASI ... 33-9696603 ) - it was all about how the actual time of day at which folk eat meals has shifted quite considerably and the meals we know today did not always exist...

I'm not sure where you'd find info about other meals in poorhouses - the Mitchell Library maybe, or NAS . There must be books on the subject of poorhouses too, but at:
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~peter/workhouse/Scotland.shtml
it states that (about 1848 I think)

The inmates' diet was also prescribed. For working adults, this comprised:

Breakfast Meal, four ounces; and broth, three-fourths pint imperial.
Dinner Bread, eight ounces; broth, one-and-half pint imperial; and boiled meat, four ounces.
Supper Meal, four ounces; and broth, three-fourths pint imperial

Inmates were bathed once a week, under supervision, in water between 88 and 98 degrees Fahrenheit. Children under fifteen had their hair regularly cut to keep the length at two inches for boys and three inches for girls.

and at:
http://www.poorhouse.org.uk/dissertation/chapter-1.html
1.8 Diet at Craiglockhart Poorhouse gives a week's menu and Monday's diet would be:

Breakfast: Tea + bread, or porridge + skim milk
Dinner: Mince meat + bread
Tea: Tea, bread + butter (jelly, jam, or golden syrup twice a week instead of butter)
Supper: Porridge + sweet milk

Ha! I just knew porridge had to be in there somewhere!!
That web page goes on to give othr diets for later in the century, the Criaglockhart Diet and others...

Maybe the Craiglockhart Diet could be the "in thing" for 2006? What do you think?? Maybe we could market it - good time of year for it...

k

Happy reading...
Best wishes
Lesley

Malcolm · Post by **Malcolm** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 1:25 pm

Thank's for all the information Lesley. I have ordered the Moving Feast book and should have it by teusday. It will make an interesting addition to my social history collection, for what it is.
One of my people died in the Dunfermline poorhouse but i was told that there is no surviving information for that establishment. I'm not especially interested in poor houses per se but I'm assuming that institutional food standards set by the poorhouses for example, reflected the eating habits of ordinary working people elsewhere.
I'm also interested in the clothes people wore, the homes they lived in and just about everything in between. I'm trying to recreate the life of a small town Fife family from the early 1800's. I'm not finding it very easy.
Thankyou for your help
Regards
Malcolm

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 1:38 pm

Malcolm
I'm sure you have seen this, but just in case...
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~peter/workhouse/ ... line.shtml

A link half way down the page seems to imply that Fife council Archives hold some records - I'm sure you must have already been in touch with them and nothing relevant has turned up.
http://www.fifedirect.org.uk/atoz/index ... 3F14B400E1

Fife Council Archives
Andrew Dowsey, Archivist
Tel: 01592 416504 & there is an enquiry form there too. I feel certain you'll have "been there, done it" already...

Best wishes
Lesley

TD

Malcolm · Post by **Malcolm** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 2:13 pm

....... stone me Lesley, that was quick. Yes, I have seen the poorhouse photographs and was impressed with the quality of the building.It says something about the seriousness of purpose and integrity of the city fathers.
I have also spoken to Andrew Dowsey on the telephone. It was he who told me about the poorhouse archives, or lack of them, and invited me to wade through the council minutes for the period. At that point my eyes glazed over and i nearly fell asleep at the very thought of it all.
Another one of the Morris's was involved with urging the council to improve sanitation conditions in connection with the fight against Cholera in the 1800's. He was something in medicine in Dunfermline and I would like to look up any details of his work when next in Fife. I might need to take a stay awake pill first though. I shall find somewhere nice to stay on your very own Riviera.
Many Thanks
Malcolm

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 6:50 pm

Hi Malcolm
OK, it was as I expected - you've been there, done it & got the t-shirt already! Such a great shame there are no existant records for the poorhouse if they were of the type & quality found in the Mitchell... oh well. Same in Edinburgh, no records....

Best wishes
Lesley